Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Glenwood Sprngs, Colorado 81602
Sunday, March 10, 2002 20:19 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After visiting his girlfriend, the non-instrument rated private pilot took off in dark night visual meteorological conditions to return home. When he failed to arrive, a search was initiated and the wreckage was found 2 days later in deep snow in mountainous terrain. According to recorded radar data at two different sites, a target departed the airport and climbed to 13,900 feet msl and took up a direct heading toward what would have been the pilot's planned destination. Halfway there, the target made a wide circle to the left of approximately 450 degrees, followed immediately by a tight circle to the right of approximately 360 degrees. The difference in time and altitude between the last two radar "hits" 14 seconds and 3,000 feet, respectively, equates to a 12,857 foot per minute rate of descent.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control due to spatial disorientation, resulting in a collision with terrain. Contributing factors were the pilot's lack of an instrument rating and the dark night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/10/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2019 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Glenwood Sprngs |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81602 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394300N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1071300W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2015 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EGE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6535 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 19 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12741 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 12 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 20 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 1 2003 4:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1323D |
| NTSB Number | DEN02FA030 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Mooney |
| Aircraft Model | M20C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2681 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2575 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jerry W. Elliott |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On file |
| Aircraft Owner City | Grand Junction |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 81505 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 20V |
| Departure City | Kremmling |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1945 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GJT |
| Destination City | Grand Junction |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 10 2002 1:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |